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KLMNO THE WORLD Burmese democracy activist freed after 7 years
UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE GIVEN
Aung San Suu Kyi gets resounding welcome
BY STEVE FINCH
rangoon, burma —If Burma’s elections last Sunday were a muted, stage-managed affair, Saturday’s release of pro-democ- racy leader Aung San Suu Kyi provided a sharply contrasting spectacle of exuberance as thou- sands of people flocked to her home in Rangoon after the barri- cades finally came down. For the best part of two days, a
crowd had been gathering out- side the lakeside house amid speculation that Burma’s ruling generals would end the Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s latest term of house arrest. In the beginning, the waiting
supporters, journalists and curi- ous onlookers had been relatively orderly. “Everyone is afraid of being
here,” said Tun Aung Khaing, a member of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, who was among the crowd Friday. But by Saturday afternoon, the
fear had dissipated. When 40 more armed guards were posted in a show of force, the crowd responded with jeers and retorts before moving back from the barbed-wire barricades as more than 30 NLD supporters sat down in protest. The group sat silently until the police left. Other party supporters hid in
the bushes to escape the atten- tion of government informants
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2010
PHOTOS BY ASSOCIATED PRESS Pro-democracy leader Aung San SuuKyi addresses jubilant supporters celebrating her release from more than seven years of house arrest in Burma, also known asMyanmar.
bearing cameras, while bolder souls broke into songs and chants calling for the release of “the Lady.” Meanwhile, behind the barbed
wire, junta officials were report- edly in discussions with Suu Kyi, according to a source close to the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity. First they requested that she not leave Rangoon or give public speeches. She refused. Then they said those restrictions would be temporary, but Suu Kyi again declined to cooperate. Eventually, the source said, the regime agreed to her unconditional release. As the last barriers were re-
moved fromthe other side of the small strip outside her home on
Rangoon’s University Avenue Road, the military’s grip on the crowd dissolved. Supporters dashed for the house, brushing past armed police officers. By then, the wait was nearly over. Supporters were crammed
against Suu Kyi’s front gate and in nearby trees to catch the first glimpse of the opposition leader, and when she appeared, cheers rang out on the street. It was more than five minutes before the crowd was quiet enough for her to speak. “I’m very happy to see you all
again,” she said softly, her words barely audible above the din. She shook hands with her
supporters as one handed her a garland of white and red flowers
that she attached to the back of her hair. She was in good health, she said. Itwas time for Burma to come together after so many years of division. “People must work in unison,” she said. “Only then can we achieve our goal.” Complex questions remain,
many Burmese acknowledge. Will Suu Kyi seek to bridge the rift in her party that caused one faction to split off? Can she unite with other parties? And will the junta actually talk to her? But there was little talk of
politics Saturday. Looking older as she emerged from more than seven years of detention but smiling warmly at her cheering supporters, Suu Kyi told the crowd to come back to her party
headquarters Sunday, when the real politics would start. After a short speech, she re-
treated inside as other party members, including octagenari- an Win Tin, arrived by car for discussions that also included her attorney NyanWin. Outside, Rangoon appeared
transformed. On the main thor- oughfare, Kaba Aye Pagoda Road, people were suddenly shouting Suu Kyi’s name and sporting T-shirts with her image that they had not dared to wear before. It was an opportunity to vote, some said, just six days after theirs were denied in a landslide election victory for the junta.
Finch is a special correspondent.
“People must work in unison,” SuuKyi told the crowd. “Only then can we achieve our goal.”
Bolivia’s coca: A staple crop and seed of U.S. disapproval White House says the country has ‘failed demonstrably’ in counternarcotics efforts
BY HELEN COSTER IN COROICO, BOLIVIA
I
n this remote corner of the Andes, three hours fromBo- livia’s capital city, AdelaMa- mani Poma earns $5 a day growing one of the world’s
most controversial crops. Mamani, 35, grows coca —
which is the raw material for co- caine and a staple of Bolivian life, chewed as a stimulant and appe- tite suppressant, to combat alti- tude sickness and to commemo- rate weddings and other social gatherings. After preparing breakfast for
her three children,Mamaniwalks anhour tothe cocafieldwhere she works for 10 hours. She fills a waist-high sack of coca leaves, which her family will sell at the wholesale Villa Fatimamarket for slightlymore than$8. “For us, coca is medicine and
food,” Mamani says. “It’s good to fight cocaine production, but not to fight awar against coca.” In September theWhite House
included Bolivia on the “majors” list—an annual list of theworld’s
major drug transit or illicit-drug- producing countries.For the third year in a row, it named Bolivia, alongwith Burma and Venezuela, as a country that has “failed de- monstrably” in its counternarcot- ics efforts. TheUnited States says that Bo-
livia — the world’s third-largest producer of coca, after Colombia and Peru — produces too much excess coca, which is often pro- cessed into cocaine and sold in South America and Europe. Crit- ics say the decision is political, intended to punish Bolivia for its lack of cooperation in the U.S.-led war on drugs, specifically Presi- dent Evo Morales’s decision to kick out the Drug Enforcement Administrationin2008. “Washington is saying that if
you’re not fighting the war on drugs the way we want you to, we’ll punish you,” says Sdenka Sil- vaBallon, founderof theMuseode la Coca in La Paz. “If Bolivia had invitedDEAagents back, then the U.S. would probably be pleased with its efforts.” TheUnitedStatesbegantarget-
ing Bolivia in 2008, afterMorales accused Ambassador Philip Gold-
berg of conspiring against him and expelled him.Morales subse- quently kicked out the DEA on chargesofespionage.Shortlyafter theUnited States includedBolivia on the “failed demonstrably” list, it announced that the country would no longer be eligible for benefits under the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), which gives trade preferences to countries that co- operatewith drug enforcement. Despite frosty diplomatic rela-
tions, theUnited States continues to subsidize Bolivia’s anti-narcot- icsefforts.TheStateDepartment’s NarcoticsAffairsSectionadminis- ters $22.5 million in support of Bolivia’s anti-trafficking police, and last year the United States Agency for InternationalDevelop- ment funded$60millioninhealth and agricultural programs.
Systemof ‘social control’ Coca cultivation is legal in Bo-
livia, to a point. The Bolivian gov- ernment allows coca farmers, known as cocaleros, to grow as much as 49,000 acres in the Yun- gas and Chapare regions.Bolivia’s counternarcotics forces and co-
caleros, tasked with self-regula- tion through a system called “so- cial control,” eradicate the rest. To theUnitedStates, these efforts are inadequate: Last year Bolivians destroyed about 16,000 acres of what the U.S. estimates to be 37,000 acres of excess coca — plants that can create 45 metric tons of cocaine. “The president determined
that Bolivia is not complyingwith its international obligations, and therefore not making a sufficient effort,” says Joseph Manso, direc- tor of the Office of Americas Pro- gram in the State Department’s Bureau of InternationalNarcotics andLawEnforcementAffairs. Critics say that the United
Statesuses flawedmethodologyto characterize Bolivia’s anti-narcot- ics efforts, since U.S. and U.N. estimates of cocaproductionrare- ly match up. Last year, Bolivian coca production was up either 1 percent or 9.4 percent, depending onthe survey,but inpast years the numbers have been even more uneven. Neither Peru nor Colom- bia—whichgrowsmorecocathan Bolivia, but has a cozier relation- ship withWashington—is on the
DIGEST ITALY
Berlusconi seeks vote of confidence Prime Minister Silvio Ber-
lusconi pledged Saturday to sub- mit his government to a make-or- break confidence vote to deter- mine whether his weakened co- alition still has enough support in Parliament to survive. If Berlusconi loses a confi-
dence vote, he must resign. If the center-right leader cannot assem- ble another government, Presi- dent Giorgio Napolitano can call early elections, widely expected to be held early next spring. But the prime minister insist-
ed that before he puts his govern- ment’s survivalonthe line,Parlia- ment must pass legislation pro- viding for Italy’s national budget. Lawmakers have been trying for weeks to come up with budget cuts, even as they worry that voters will punish them at the polls if elections are held anytime soon. “I’m more optimistic than be-
fore” about the government’s sur- vival, said Interior Minister Ro- berto Maroni, a leader of Ber- lusconi’s main coalition partner, the anti-immigrant Northern League.
—Associated Press BANGLADESH
Violence erupts as politician evicted At least three people were
killed in a suicide bomb attack on Saturday, and more than 100 protesters were injured as offi- cials evicted the leader of the opposition from the house where she had lived for 40 years. Police fired tear gas and rubber
bullets to clear demonstrators in the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, trying to prevent authorities from evicting former prime min- ister Begum Khaleda Zia from her house, and violence erupted in more than 20 other towns. The bombing was near Khus-
tia, 190 miles west of Dhaka. Police would not say whether they thought the attack was relat- ed to Zia’s eviction.
—Reuters ICELAND
WikiLeaks sets up private company Whistle-blowing organization
WikiLeaks says it has set up a private limited company in Ice- land for administrative purposes. Spokesman Kristinn Hrafns- son said Saturday that the organi-
zation is undergoing restructur- ing and will also establish legal entities in Sweden and France. He said WikiLeaks already oper- ates as a legal entity in Australia. According to Hrafnsson,
WikiLeaks needs to set up bases in different countries to carry out tasks such as opening bank ac- counts.He said Saturday that the movedoes notmeanWikiLeaks is trying to profit from its opera- tions. The anti-secrecy group drew worldwide attention by posting 500,000 secret Iraq and Afghanistan war files this year. —Associated Press
Dronestrikekills5inPakistan:A suspected U.S. missile strike hit a Taliban stronghold near the Af- ghan border Saturday, killing five alleged militants as they traveled in a vehicle, Pakistani intelli- gence and government officials said. At least three of the dead were thought to be foreigners. The attack was the seventh this monthand underscored theUnit- ed States’ increasing reliance on drone-fired missiles to take out targets it deems a danger to the war effort in Afghanistan.
Nigeriawarns of militant raids in south: Nigeria’s military is warn- ing anyone who lives near a militant camp in the country’s
SAUDIARABIA official said.
Qantas keeps A380s grounded: Australia’s national airline is keeping its six flagship super- jumbos on the ground more than a week after a midair engine disintegration, disrupting its most lucrative long-haul routes even as regulators and pilots say the Rolls-Royce motors are safe. Competitors Lufthansa and Sin- gapore Airlines have returned their Airbus A380s to service.
HASSAN AMMAR/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tens of thousands ofMuslim pilgrims move around the Kaaba inside the GrandMosque during the annual hajj inMecca.
oil-rich southern delta to leave to avoid becoming “collateral dam- age.” Saturday’s statement by Oluseyi Petinrin, Nigerian chief of defense staff, follows the kid- napping of seven expatriate workers from an offshore oil rig working for London-based Afren PLC and a nearby support ship.
France charges 4 with terrorism- related crimes: Four men sus- pected of belonging to a network sending French residents to the tribal zones of the Pakistan-Af- ghanistan border to train for combat have been charged with “criminal association linked to a terrorist enterprise,” a judicial
N. Korea reportedly building re- actor: North Korea has begun building an experimental light- water reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, according to a report by Japan’s Kyodo News agency. Siegfried Hecker, former director of the U.S. Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory, told report- ers in Beijing after a trip toNorth Korea that construction has just begun and is likely to take several years, Kyodo said.
Race tightens in Guinea presi- dential runoff: Former Guinean prime minister Cellou Dalein Di- allo held a narrow lead in the West African state’s presidential election, but partial results showed his rival making gains in key constituencies. —From news services
list of countries that have “failed demonstrably.” “I thinkBolivians aremissing a
key point,” Manso says. “If you look at theU.S. andU.N. numbers from 2000 until now, they both showa steadyupward trend and a more than doubling of coca plant- ing inBolivia.”
‘There’s a thin line’ Coca is an issue that has long
defined U.S.-Bolivian relations, andwhichMorales,acocaleroand head of the coca growers’ federa- tion, uses to galvanize his base. “Evo’s electoral stronghold was the cocaleros and other groups with the same school of thought: the have-nots neglected by the government masses,” says César Guedes, representative of theU.N. Office on Drugs and Crime in Bo- livia. “There’sathinlinewherethe government has to be careful: keep the culture of coca without the support and endorsement of cocaine.” Morales came to power aiming
to develop a legal, global market for coca. Under his “Coca Yes, Co- caine No” policy, his administra- tion committed $5 million to in-
dustrialize coca,workingwith sci- entists to find alternative uses for the plant and building factories that will process coca into flour, syrups and other products. But themarket is crippled by a
1961 U.N. anti-drug convention that bans the export of any prod- ucts that contain cocaine alka- loids. “In some ways, Morales overreached,” says Vanda Felbab- Brown, a counternarcotics expert and fellow at the Brookings Insti- tution. “He devoted a lot of his counternarcotics focus on getting cocaremovedfromtheU.N.’slistof controlled substances. I don’t see that happening anytime soon.” Bolivia is spending $20million
on its own counternarcotics ef- forts, an investment that, if spent elsewhere, couldhelpimprove life in one of South America’s poorest countries. “My concern is that Bolivia is a
victim of the circumstances,” Guedes says. “The whole interna- tional demand for cocaine fuels this problem.”
Coster reported this article on a grant with the InternationalReporting Project.
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